Discovery Gave Him A Charge; Battery Powered: Alessandro Volta's drive for knowledge made our lives easier.(LEADERS & SUCCESS)

Byline: NANCY GONDO

Plenty of people thought Alessandro Volta was an idiot.

The youngest of seven children born to a family of minor nobility in Como, Italy, Volta hadn't learned to talk by the time he was 4. In fact, he spoke rarely until he was about 7.

Volta (1745-1827) was simply too busy soaking up his surroundings and thinking to talk. Despite others' misgivings, Volta's parents sent him to school -- they'd observed him at home and knew he was intelligent. There, he made up for lost time, becoming one of the top students in the school.

His love of study would change the world. Volta, who later became a scientist, discovered the continuous electric current in 1800 -- and made our lives much easier as a result. You can thank Volta each time you turn on a lamp, use a laptop or talk on a cell phone.

"Without the discovery he made, we would not be able to bring heat and light to our homes by pressing a switch, nor could we speak with people far away from us or share in the sight and sound of events taking place there," Percy Dunsheath wrote in "Giants of Electricity."

Throughout his life, he enjoyed writing poetry. Electrical science was one of his favorite subjects and often served as the topic for his poems.